This is a legacy website covering the VB (2014-2020) North Sea Region Programme.

EMPOWER 2.0

Webinar | Energy Community Pilot, transfo zwevegem

09 December 2020 - Published by Dominique Dhondt
We talked with PhD student Hakim Azaioud of Ghent University, who gave a successful webinar 2 weeks ago to students in Sustainable Energy System Management at the HOWEST University of Applied Sciences (Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen)".

"It was a pleasure to give this webinar", said Hakim Azaioud.  "During the webinar I presented the EMPOWER2.0 project and one of its pilots 'Transfo Zwevegem' as well as the legislative aspects of energy communities."

"We went back in time to reflect on the evolution of the site throughout its rich history. Then the future plans were presented, especially the plan to develop an energy community on the site. We looked at the barriers and opportunities of the project."

"Actually two different energy communities are defined by the Clean Energy Package", Hakim continues. The criteria of each energy community were explained and the Transfo project has been assessed to these criteria in order to define on which kind of energy community it belongs. Furthermore insights where given in the integration of decentralized energy sources in a DC-backbone and the benefits of such a DC-backbone has been quantified.

About EMPOWER2.0

During the presentation, the role of the project was underlined several times. In particular the role of the pilot project in identifying the challenges for citizens. But also the demonstrative value of the project and the cooperation with the stakeholders to set up the microgrid.

"The webinar was an ideal opportunity to present the pilot project and to allow students to gain new insights into different energy systems. At the end of the presentation a short Q&A was organized. The questions proved that the students were very interested and motivated.", concluded Hakim. It will be considered to organize such sessions in the future, both for students and/or for a wider audience.